St. Joseph students show knowledge at in STEM fair

Thursday

Feb 21, 2013 at 11:36 AM

FAIRHAVEN — Middle school students from St. Joseph School in Fairhaven took charge at a recent STEM Expo (science, technology, engineering, and math) held at the school to begin Catholic School's Week on Sunday, Jan. 27.

FAIRHAVEN — Middle school students from St. Joseph School in Fairhaven took charge at a recent STEM Expo (science, technology, engineering, and math) held at the school to begin Catholic School's Week on Sunday, Jan. 27.

With the assistance of the school's STEM coordinator, Misti Nordstrom, students shared their knowledge and understanding of a variety of concepts related to these fields with families who visited the school from the community and neighboring towns.

"It's very exciting to observe students teaching complex concepts," Ms. Nordstrom said. "This is evidence that they are engaged in their learning and have made real connections to the natural world."

The students led activities on rockets, fingerprinting, seed dissection, viscosity, sound, electricity, friction and optical illusions.

"I think any teacher would say that this is exactly what we aim for, students excited about learning, and taking ownership of it. The kids gave up their Sunday to come to school, and were happy to do it. I think that says it all." Ms. Nordstrom said.

Winning projects this year included topics on bacteria, psychology, wave power, fear factors, attention, and perception to name a few.

Winning students will be attending a regional science fair at Bristol Community College in March where they will compete in hopes of advancing into the state competition.

Earning the highest scores for their innovative science fair projects, students are thrilled to advance to the next level.

"The students have worked very hard, and I am confident that they will do very well at regionals." said teacher Daphne Costa. "For some, this is their second or third time moving on.

"They know how important this opportunity is, and many of them will most likely select science related careers one day. I strongly feel that their experiences at the regional and state levels will play an integral role."